Holding a Healing Space

Holding A Healing Space: A Holistic Training in Supporting Sexual Trauma Survivors offers you an immersive learning experience co-facilitated by a multi-disciplinary team of seasoned professionals who work in the realms of trauma, sexual assault, anti-violence advocacy, holistic healing, and integrative medicine.

Within this course, our conversations about individual trauma healing are grounded within the larger context of what sexual trauma survivors navigate directly and indirectly through how our society defines and responds to sexual trauma, and how systemic oppression, historical trauma, and cultural norms combine to shape and influence our experiences of violence, while also determining both access and barriers to healing resources. 

The training materials anchor participants in a nuanced understanding of the physiology of trauma and resilience, invite an examination of individual experiences of sexual trauma and contextualize those experiences within systemic and generational forms of trauma. With this foundation, we begin to discern how we integrate this knowledge within specific therapeutic applications and adaptations of trauma-informed care across a range of healing modalities.

As the practitioner’s own presence informs their capacity to both steadily and flexibly hold space for survivors in the deepest places of their pain, we explore somatic approaches to tending to ourselves as healing professionals who carry our own trauma histories. Within and beyond this space, we believe there lives the stunning and reciprocal possibility for everyone to experience the therapeutic relationship as a healing encounter. 

We encourage health, healing, and wellness professionals of all disciplines to join this learning space. This includes, though is not limited to: acupuncturists, body workers, birth workers, yoga teachers, energy healers, psychotherapists, personal trainers, physical therapists, social workers, nurse practitioners, medical doctors, and members of the advocacy and academic communities.

The course content is prerecorded, allowing for a self-paced format, giving participants the time and space to move through materials at their rhythm, as well as to return to it as often as they choose. We invite you to reach out to us with any questions or curiosities about whether this course will align with your professional and/or personal intentions.

Preview the curriculum here and learn more about our co-teaching faculty here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need prior trauma training or experience to enroll in this course?

The content is accessible and engaging to both new and seasoned practitioners. We welcome practitioners who are just beginning to intentionally connect their work with supporting sexual trauma survivors, and we find that those with a well-established professional practice find new insights, perspectives, and tangible practices that can infuse within their work.

I am a medical doctor who doesn't directly treat patients for the impacts of sexual trauma, would I benefit from being in this learning space?

Absolutely! When we talk about holistic health and healing, that includes all forms of care, support, and resources that comprise our physical, psychological and other forms of well-being. This course will give you an in-depth understanding of the prevalence of sexual trauma, how it lands in survivors' bodies and psyches, how it might show up in a health/healing space, and tangible ways you can adapt your care to make it more trauma-informed. Whether or not your patient explicitly names their sexual trauma history, by enhancing the degree of safety you extend to them in receiving services (whether a dentist visit, an eye exam, a skin check) - you are reducing the likelihood of triggers, making whole-person healing more accessible, and empowering them in attending to their own care. 

Do you offer group registration rates?

Yes, we do! Please contact [email protected] to learn more about reduced registration fees for groups of 3 or more. We have found that moving through our course materials as a group is a powerful way to infuse the concepts within the spaces we work, learn, heal, and educate and to develop a shared language for how we approach trauma-informed care in support of survivors of sexual trauma. From teachers to administrative support people, student advocacy groups to crisis center staff and first responders, counseling centers and holistic healing spaces - many groups have benefitted from the shared experience of exploring trauma and healing in community.

Will I be a certified trauma-informed provider upon completion?

This 30+ hour course is not a certificate course. Participation does not inherently qualify someone as a “trauma-informed" provider. We recognize that level of certification demands additional learning, rigor, supervision & mentorship, and experience that unfolds over a more extensive and intensive period of time. Still, these 30+ hours will create a profound and personal impact as the insights shares are comprehensive, intimate, tangible, and will likely motivate you to continue on this path of learning to better support clients healing from the impacts of sexual trauma. In the future, we will consider establishing a more structured container to support a certificate program.

Disclaimer

The objective of this course is educational, not psychotherapeutic, in nature. The course is not intended to be a substitute for therapy, nor for any other form of professional consultation or accreditation. Participation in this learning may stir unconscious or dormant memories, emotional or physical responses, and/or stress responses. If you have been treated for, or believe you may have suffered from an untreated traumatic experience, injury, or systemic condition, please consider if you are in a position to safely engage with the course at this time. You may choose to enlist the support of a professional who can be a resource to you both during and after the course. The Breathe Network and the course facilitators and presenters featured in the course are not liable for any distress that participation might create. 

Additionally, The Breathe Network does not endorse any specific healing modality and/or practitioner. Each practitioner and organization involved or mentioned through this course work autonomously and has full, separate, legal, therapeutic responsibility for their clients. The Breathe Network cannot make assurances that the qualifications or services of any practitioner/organization/modality would be appropriate for the needs of a particular individual. You assume responsibility for evaluating and selecting providers and healing modalities, therefore please discuss your specific needs with the provider to determine if they have the skills to assist you in your healing. 

Please contact us at [email protected] with any questions or comments.